whirlwind

What a crazy weekend! Friday night my mom and I went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Fulton theater in Lancaster. I had never been there before and had pretty low expectations. Especially since I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End in London. I was pleasantly surprised, however. The Fulton was a beautiful old building and the production was great.

The next day I met up with a good friend from college, Nicole. She was in town visiting her father. That has been a fun part of my parents moving to the Lancaster area: we end up in town a lot of times for holidays. I had only intended to stay an hour or two but it was so pleasant floating around in her pool that I ended up spending most of the afternoon there. I had put sunscreen on my face but I ended up up with a bad burn on my chest.

After that I dashed off to a graduation party at the TrueDeeva's house and spent the afternoon giggling at her former mother in law's antics being shocked at how much all of the kids had grown up. I think her daughter was in first grade the last time I saw her, and now she looks like a young lady, ready to go off to middle school. I managed to avoid drama with Isaac's daddy (We had both been invited and I had asked that we go at different times because I thought that might confuse Isaac. His dad didn't like that suggestion, but it worked out in the end.)

From there I met up with my friends Becca and Jami. She is officially moved into her house in Fishtown. It was such a nice night that we ended up wandering around the city from place to place. We checked out Stephen Starr's newest place Frankford Hall. Although I don't have much use for a beer garden, it was a really neat place, with a huge outdoor courtyard and ping pong tables and girls walking around selling huge pretzels. We also walked to PYT in Northern Libs but was disappointed by horrible service. Seriously, the worst service I have had in ages. We were this close to just walking out, which is a shame because the food was really good.

Sunday I squeezed in a walk with my friend Kim, before we were back to Lanc for a nice meal with my dad. Joe grilled steaks and I had a turkey burger. At first I was sad and it was one of the first times int he past year that I really found myself wanting to eat red meat. But once they were there on the table, they looked less appetizing and I was fine with my turkey burger. It was a great weekend.

feeling crafty

Last year I bought this cute little buckets in the dollar section of target but had no idea what to do with them. When my friend Diana loaned me her big shot die cutter to make all those bridal invites Isaac and I decided to play around with it.

We made this out of things completely around the house. I just used a cereal box with the flower die cut and then modge podged random scrapbook paper on. I used a straw with a pick up stick inside to jab into some craft foam and then I just shredded the leftover scrapbook paper to cover up the foam. The ribbon was leftover from the curtains in my office.

P.S. Last day of school today!!!!!

An interview with Isaac, as he graduates kindergarten

I was inspired by Sarah over at Clover Lane:

I am really good at: math

I like to: do the monkey bars at recess

Someone that makes me laugh: Damien

One word that describes you: difficult (I swear, no prompting from me on that one!)

I am really happy when: it's my birthday

I am really sad when: I have to wash the dishes

My favorite book: The Story of Darth Vader

My favorite TV show: the NBA

My favorite vacation: Orlando, FL

I like school when: it's calendar time

I don't like school when: we have to be quiet

My favorite season: Summer

My favorite toy: Wii

My worst nightmare: the one about Michael Jackson's Thriller with zombies

Things that make me mad: when mom takes my Wii away

Favorite sport: Basketball

I like my Dad because: he takes me to play with Junior

I like my Mom because: she lets me use the computer

I like my family because: they are fun

Movies...

When you are as broke as I am, Netflix is like your best friend. Here's what I've seen lately.

White Oleander I'm always up for a good drama but this one was sort of weak. It was about a girl who's mother commits a crime of passion and goes to jail. The girl floats from foster care home to foster care home. I might read the book, but I felt like the movie was sort of cliche.

The Business of Being Born This is one that came recommended by quite a few of my friends. It's basically a big advertisement for midwifery and home births. Although some of their views bordered on over the top propaganda (just because monkeys that are c-sectioned don't care for their young, doesn't mean that women who have sections are going to be less attached to their babies!), I thought it raised as lot of interesting points about how women in America view childbirth.

Paper Clips This was a really cute documentary about a middle school in rural Appalachia who decide to collect a paperclip for every child that was killed in the Halocaust. It was really good.

Bridesmaids

I saw this one in the theater with friends. There are parts that are raunchy and over the top, but overall I really enjoyed it. I totally related to the main character, a single girl navigating the world of dating and dealing with blows from life. It was hilariously funny. I found myself laughing the whole time.

National Geographic: Solitary Confinement

I like documentaries about psychology and this was about the psychological effects of solitary confinement. I thought it was interesting and featured footage and photos of Eastern State Penn, which is a Philly landmark.

Tupac and Biggie

This one was all right. I was making 50 cards for a bridal shower and just wanted something on that I could half pay attention to while I was working on them. It brought up a lot of the loose ends of the cases of the murders of the two rappers and highlighted the corruption in the LAPD that caused the murders to do really be investigated. However, Biggie and Tupac is pretty much old news.

Man on Wire

This is a documentary about Phillipe a tightrope walker who does daring stunts such as walking between the two towers of Notre Dame and ultimately between the two towers of the World Trade Center. His stunts were interesting but the documentary was a little slow, mostly talking head type interviews and awkward reenactments.

Movies That I Tried to Watch and Just Couldn't Get Into

Brokeback Mountain and Chasing Amy

Have any good recommendations for me?

Monday

• I ran a mile and biked five tonight. Not bad. I could have run more but my allergies are causing my lungs to close up and I wasn't in the mood for wheezing and keeling over. Tomorrow is Zumba, so the week is off to a decent start as far as excercise is concerned. And I tend to eat a million times better on days that I bother to work out. Hopefully I can stick with it for a while, because I have a whole closet full of summer shorts and capris that are too small, which is just depressing.

• I got a great Groupon a few weeks ago 20 bucks for 45 dollars worth of stuff from the Body Shop. Since I am obsessed with The Body Shop, I couldn't pass it up. I bought two lip butters, a lip balm, a body butter and two shower gels and I am in love with the shower gels. One is grapefruit which is one of my favorite scents for shower gels. It just smells fresh and citrusy and yummy. The other is almond which just smells nutty and delicious.

• Speaking of depressing, I'm helping plan a bridal shower for a girl who goes to my church. Her name is also Lisa and I keep getting e-mails that are intended for her about aspects of the shower. I'm in charge of the invitations. I picked up a cute wedding type stamp at AC Moore tonight. I should be able to whip up something cute... I hope... or it will be horrible and I will end up spending even more money on store bought invites. We'll see.

Another E-harmony winner. This was on a new match's profile under the section "Other information you might want to know about me": I'm not on here for the right partner, but to choose someone and make her right. Uh... make her right? Not too sure how that works. I promptly hit the archive button on that one. Well that's all for now. Counting down the days until June 15th!!

Quick Memorial Day Post

Here's a few pictures from Memorial Day. Isaac and I had a lovely day with my parents. Isaac played outside all day, helped my dad with lawn work and car washing and went swimming at the Leola Pool. I did some crafting and reading. We went to my parents church picnic. Here's a few pictures.

We stopped letting him win a long time ago.

Riding our bikes over to the picnic.

Games at the picnic.

a few randoms

• We have had such a hot few days and it has been unbearable at work. Our school is very old and is not air conditioned. The temperatures in our classrooms have been in the upper 90s for the past two days. At least I can wear a light cotton sundress. I feel bad for the men in my school who have to wear pants and polos. Ick.
• It's not fair to be so hot before I have even had a chance to get over my allergies. I have been a snotty, sneezing, itchy, drowsy, wheezing, asthmatic mess for the past week or so. And I look scary to boot.
• I'm currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I tried to read it once before and couldn't get into it, but the second time around I like it a little better. It is just a compilation of letters from the various characters and it took a while to get used to that format and keep all of the characters straight in my head. I would say I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and enjoying it.
• I can now say I've made an official (if half hearted) attempt to get a summer job. I filled out a few applications, but nothing looks to promising, aside from writing IEPs which isn't very many hours. I really need the money though, so I should probably hustle a little harder. I did get Isaac enrolled in swim lessons and a few sports camps which gets me a few checks in the "good mommy" column. Lately, I've felt like the mommy that other better moms point and laugh at.
• My sister and brother in law are on their way to Alaska for the next year or so. I need to figure out a way to afford to visit them before they move.
• I ended up meeting up with the TrueDeeva herself over the weekend. It has (sadly) been a few years since we have hung out. I had a babysitter and my plans ended up never materializing so I texted her on a whim. It was fun and I will be heading out to her place for a BBQ in a few weeks.
• I got an e-mail from another e-harmony guy, who seems like a real winner. In response to my question "describe the worst date you've ever been on" he related a story about how the girl's face looked skinny in the picture she sent, but when he met her, her body was fat. Then, one of his open ended questions he sent me was "What is your opinion on society today?".... Say what?? I responded that I wasn't sure how to answer such a broad question and his response was "Well, that's why I asked you, because you're a broad."......... So in short I've met another arrogant jerk, this one who seems to have the political views of the Unabomber. Thanks, e-harmony.

Anyways, that's all I have for right now. I'll try to post some Memorial Day pictures as soon as I can gank them from my mom and dad's camera. Have a great week!